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T O P I C R E V I E W

onesmallstep

Following the near-fatal shooting of a 14-year old Pakistani schoolgirl, Malala Yousafzai, who was defying the Taliban, former astronaut Mark Kelly and his wife, former Arizona Rep. Gabby Giffords, developed a generous offer to fly the girl to Houston for treatment, with the fuel bill being covered by an unnamed TV celebrity. As reported in the New York Times:

Ms. Giffords's doctor, Dr. Dong Kim, the head of neurosurgery at the Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center, got ready to travel to Pakistan. Mr. Kelly, a former astronaut, said he had recruited an American celebrity, whom he declined to name, to finance the fuel costs of an emergency plane trip from Peshawar to Houston. "We were just trying to offer the best help available, as we understand it from being down this road," Mr. Kelly said.

After similar offers from other US hospitals, the girl was ultimately airlifted to the Queen Elizabeth II Memorial Center in Birmingham, England, which specializes in head trauma and bullet injury, for treatment.